National recreation area might expand

This week, the National Park Service will start to examine the feasibility of expanding the borders of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area to include a vast patchwork of land stretching from the Conejo, Simi and San Fernando valleys to the Angeles National Forest and into downtown Los Angeles.

The study, which will take up to four years and cost $500,000, will look at how, and if, the 450,000-acre area known as the Rim of the Valley Corridor would fit under the auspices of the National Park Service.

Woody Smeck, superintendent of the SMMNRA, said if the project were approved, it would connect a series of trails and recreation areas around Ventura and Los Angeles counties to create a vast network of open space for wildlife and humans.

"It literally connects a string of pearls," Smeck said. "There is the potential for hundreds of miles of recreational trails."

If the park's footprint were expanded, the private land within the boundaries, which makes up about half the study area, would remain private and the various state and local agencies would maintain ownership of their property, Smeck said.

Currently only about 15 percent of the SMMNRA is federal land and the rest is owned by various public agencies and citizens.

He said extending the park's boundaries would provide better conservation opportunities and allow many different groups to work together to plan for a holistic approach to the open spaces.

But some take issue with the potential expansion of the park, saying it will limit the rights of landowners whose property could fall within the boundaries.

"They will put all kinds of restrictions on you," said Chuck Cushman, executive director of the American Land Rights Association, which often weighs in on National Park Service issues. "They are talking about the Rim of the Valley just as a land-use control mechanism."

He said the Park Service works with other local agencies to influence what landowners can or can't do with their property.

Smeck said that is untrue and that the Park Service has no power to dictate what landowners can do with their property. He said the park rarely issues a comment on all the hundreds of land development proposals it sees. The city of Malibu and all its development are completely within the existing park boundaries.

Steve Hess, the past president of the Las Virgenes Home Owners Federation, which is composed of more than 25 homeowner groups representing more than 2,000 homeowners all within the park, said he's never heard of a problem with the park.

"There is a misunderstanding that many people have of what it means to live in a national park," he said. "The National Park Service does not dictate what happens on private property."

There will be a series of public meetings this summer to get input on the study and solicit feedback from residents.